Sunday, December 13, 1998 Published at 06:59 GMTFourth impeachment charge passedBill Clinton: "profoundly sorry"The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee has passed a fourth article of impeachment against President Clinton, setting the stage for a full vote in the House next week.

The vote took place shortly before Mr Clinton arrived in Israel to promote the Wye River peace agreement.

The fourth article of impeachment, passed along party lines by 21-16, alleged the president "frivolously" asserted executive privilege in the investigation of his relationship with intern Monica Lewinsky.

The committee also rejected a Democrat-backed proposal to censure the president as an alternative to impeachment.

Earlier, the panel adopted two articles accusing the president of perjury and a third accusing him of obstruction of justice.

The four charges now go to the full 435-member House of Representatives for a vote next Thursday.

If the House approves any article, it will trigger only the second Senate trial in US history to determine if a president should be removed from office.

"I never should have misled the country, the Congress, my friends or my family. Quite simply, I gave in to my shame," he said.

But the president crucially failed to admit that he lied, angering Republicans.

BBC Correspondent Richard Lister in Washington says the statement was timed for America's evening news bulletins - Mr Clinton wanted to ensure reports did not deal only with the damaging allegations against him.

Party lines

The first impeachment charge - that the president committed perjury before Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's Grand Jury last August - was passed by 21-16.